Abstract of title and method of making the same



C. L SNYDER.

ABSTRACT or TITLE AND METHOD or MAKING THE SAME.

5 APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, i919- 1,43 3 9 K5, Patented 00's. 31, E22.

4 SHEETSSHEET l.

FP- to 0 0 LE I t w i z zag i' wtozaae iha; i; 7

Abstract Number. 1..-..- Mm-.. fii.- w e- Motor Numbenumm meme? Make of Automobile WM.-... .-A..- ,ype o? Bo 1y Number of CylinderS er1aJ or Cat- Numherwfi Year lviac'le t .-c--. LicenseNumb I 0/ 1%13 Clrzv Ida/c MPH BY FRES. 111% "Data 061 55: d. ia BY secY. F 77 FE Z7 [27 4/ 11/ L f 11, ILZm/I I I W I l 11 ll sale No. 1. BILL OF SALE 3 \5 Serial or Car No Motor No A Abstract No Year Made Type ol'Body u Know all men by these presents that s (Name) (Addrcnfl) a: city or town of. .State 011. .Vendor, in consideration or 4 l 41) No l g r t .city or town of .Stote of. .Vendee,l u (Address) ,1: the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do.. grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Vendce, .heirs, successors. administrators. 4E executors and assigns. the automobile described in Automobile Abstract of Title No which abstract is hereby made a part 4 l) hereof. To have and to hold the same forever unto the said Vendee, ..heirs, successors, administrators. executors and assigns, against l 0 all claims whatsoever, except as shown on the reverse side of this instrument, which the Vcndec hereby does .assume. & w Insert not, ii otherwise) I 1 In witness whereof the respective parties hereto have hereunto set their hands and seals this ..day of A.D. l9. l 3 Witness: ---l g .3. ..(L.s.) m r t ..(L. s U l The above subscribed severally, being duly sworn before me this. I 55. I 1;, State of l day of .r... .AD. 19", dcpose and say that. s M O\ p. v respectively. that the statements: lf 5 made in the above instrument are true and that said instrument was good faith, and that same is their freer Impresslon act and deed I Seal r I My commission expires Notary Public County of. .State of 4 l (Insert they are the vendor and vendee, or vendor and agent of the vendec, or agent of the vendor and vendec, us the case may be) BILL OF SALE I Sale No. 2. 5 3-- Serial or Car No. Motor No q Abstract No Year Made. Type of Body. y

2 Know all men by these presents that E city or town of .State of.. Vendor, in consideration of: ..paid by... EU Name) a "city or town of i ..State of Vendee. 4 U (Address) L: the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do .grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said vendee, ..hcirs, successors, administrators, 1 3 executors and assigns, the automobile described in Automobile Abstract of Title No ..\vhich a stract is hereby mad a par p hereof. To have and to hold the same forever unto the said Vendee, ..heii-s. successors, administrators, executors and assigns, against l U all claims whatsoever, except as shown on the reverse side of this instrument, which the Vcndee hereby does "assume. w (Insert not, a! otherwise) In witness whereof the respective parties hereto have hereunto set their hands and seals this ..dny of .A.D. 19 s l 3 Witness: I L l l v V l i t 3 I M i .(L. S) a) County of The above subscribed severally. being duly sworn before me this i Z, State of. day of ..A.D. l9 deposc and say that. {L y c l .rcspectively, that the statements lf 5 made in the above instrument are true and that sai ristrumcnt was executed in good faith, and that same is their free Impressm" act and deed. l

Seal. My commission expires Notary Public County of. v State of. i (Insert they or: the vendor and vendee, or vendor and agent or the vomit-c, or agent of llic vendor and vendee, as the case rnav be) l Patented Oct. 31, 1922..

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1919.

Kind of Instrument, Mortgage Amount Discharge of Mortgage Date Executed or Contract state which Name of Mortgage: or Vendor Where Recorded f Recorded Kind of Instrument, Mortgage Discharge of Mortgage Date Executed or Contract, State which Name of Mortgagee or Vendor Amount Where Recorded Reborded Kind of Instrument Mortgage Discharge of Mortgage Date Executed or Contract, state which Name of Mortgagee or Vendor Amount Where Recorded Recorded C. L. SNYDER.

ABSTRACT OF TITLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED MAY7, 1919.

1,433,975 Patented Oct :31, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

APPLICATION fer Automobile Abstract of Title Applicant's Name t i c 7 r c c 7 l 7 o A 7 s A c Address EM v o, sgcgt a Town or City .L s County of c T i State of c c Trade Name; c t l L i i Year Made t i i c s s Type of Body i c Motor Number A t c c i i Serial or Car Number c Number of Cylinders c c c c s s A i Manufactured by o c s A i A c Date of Purchase i v t t t t V t V t s t t V A V v Did You buy it New or Second Hand? Purchase Price t i t i Is it Insured? N If so, by Whom? t i i i c c t t i A Are You Buying it on Contract? c t t 7 If so, State Whether or Not a Conditional Contract 7.

Is it Mortgaged? s A c .7 c t s s t c t If so, to Whom? c c c A A A How Much? 7 o i i o A t Date Mortgage Was Recorded c c Are You a Dealer in Automobiles? s i s l Are You a Manufacturers Agent c c c A u If so, of Whom V s t 7 i c i c s t j i i i c A A o 7 Are You a Licensed Agent or Dealer. V V V V A i i A c l l c Vendor's Name V s t s i i i r a s s V 7 s i c :Addriess. c c a A c c Town or City I t t t c t s l V County of c i u j i i funstate ofuflf f ff Is Vendor a Dealer in Automobiles? Is Vendor a Manufacturer's Agent? If so, of Whom? s o s s i Is Vendor a Licensed Agent or Dealer? This Year's License Number s s c Issued by State of o o c s Last Year's License Number. c c i s t i 7 ,Issued by State of o t c i i c Applicant's Signature NOTICE--Thc Notary is requested to see that all spaces in the above application are properly filled in, and that his 5:8! is affixed in space allotted for the same- State of on. .7 Ur.

countyofiunfl t c c c V c U On this A i i t day of s i i s c V A.D.l9 personally appeared before me t v t t l t s i t o who being first sworn, deposes and says that t t V V c v c the applicant named in the above mentioned (insert h= is or is ngcnt for) application and that he has signed the same and that the matters therein stated are true to the best of his knowledge and belief.

' 7 i i A i i A M n 1 18;; 1 -11;;lriniilfsablrlxitflrisc' My Commission Expires A.D. 19

Notarys Impression Seal Upon receipt of Two Dollars ($2.00) and this Application an Abstract will be issued Automobile Abstract and Title Company Detroit, Michigan, U. S. A.

See Reverse Side for Instructions.

Patented Oct. 31, 1922. 1,433,975

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CECIL L. SNYDER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ABSTRACT OF TITLE AND METHOD 01E MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed May 7, 1919. SerialNo. 295,297.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CEoIL L. SNYDER, a citizen of the United States of America, residin at Detroit, in the county of W'ayne and tate of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Abstract of Titles and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention aims to provide a structural abstract of title and a method of carrying the abstract into efl'ect so that it becomes a constant and positive weapon against theft, misconveyance, and surreptitious use of property, particularly an automobile or similar vehicle.

Briefly described, an automobile abstract of title 1s in the form of a book adapted to be issued to the owner of an automobile and used for the life of the car. The book includes a constructive arrangement of forms, some of which are in duplicate, and the most important of which is the bill of sale. Upon the purchase of a new automobile from the manufacturers distributer, or upon the purchase of a used or secondhand automobile from an owner the bill'of sale is made out by a notary public and sworn to. A dupli- I cate of the bill of sale is also prepared by the notary and forwarded to the party issuin the abstract of title book. Triplicates 0 such bill of sale may be forwarded to the Secretary of State, State motor vehicle department, police department, or any places Where a record of an automobile may be advantageously maintained.

Besides the. bill of sale or certificate of ownership, there are special forms for addi t-ional sales or transactions and a similar record is adapted to be maintained so that throughout the life of an automobile there will be a complete history or summary ar ranged'in chronological order, showin the origin, title, encumbrances, liens and liabilities to which an automobile maybe subjected. Further carrying this into effect, there are pages in the book providing forms,

records of any mortgage, contract or lien instrument, and other pages are devoted to forms constituting notices and the recording of any'mortgage, contract, or lien instrument. With such a structural arrangement of forms and by carrying out a method in accordance with my invention, it is possible to guarantee and prove the title of an automobile upon demand; to prevent any one selling or purchasing a stolen automobile; to afford protection and assist in obtaining loans and loaning money on automobiles; to prevent many court suits that otherwise follows sales transactions; to aid insurance companies and prevent an automobile thief or dishonest abstract holder from making fraudulent claims; to reduce theft hazards for insurance companies and consequently reduce insurance rates, and, to aid and assist State license bureaus and police departments.

My invention and the method of carrying it into effect will be hereinafter more fully considered, and reference will now be had to the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of one of the pages of a book form embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the reverse face of the page; Y

' Fig. 3 is a similar view of another page of the book form, and

Fig. 4 is a similar view of still another page that may be'included in the book form.

The book form, mentioned in the beginning, comprises a suitable cover or folder in which the leaves or pages may be suitably bound, it being preferable to bind the upper ends of the leaves or pages in the upper folded portion of the cover so that the book is somewhat ofmanuscript form capable of being folded in a documentary manner.

The first page in the book form, as illustrated in Fig. 1, is adapted. to have its upper end oredge 1 held by staples, stitchings or other binding means, and the right hand edge of the page is formed integral with a duplicate page 2 adapted to be folded on the weakened or perforated tearing line 3 into parallel registration with the bound end of the page. Page 2 ispractically a duplicate of the bound in page and considering the main page, which is a permanent record for the owner of an automobile, the page isdivided into three portions 4, 5 and 6 by trans,- verse lines, and these same transverse lines are carried onto page 2 as perforated lines so that portions of the duplicate page 2 may be separated and used for specific purposes, as will hereinafter appear.

On the portion 4 of the main page, as shown in Fig. 1, is printed, engraved or otherwise provided with an oblong somewhat ornamental border 7 for a certificate of ownership and the title of this portion of the page is in large type while the remaining portion of the certificate is in small type and' adapted to set forth the abstract number; make of the automobile; number of cylinders; year made; motor number; type of body; serial or carnumber; and license number. This indicia occupies about four lines in the upper part of the border and it is preferable to place the indicia in two columns. The lower portion of the certificate at the lower left hand corner thereof has a space 8 for a seal,and the remaining lower'portion certifies as to the ownership of the automobile, the same being certified to by officers of the company, firm or corporation issuing the abstract of title. There is a place for a date and at the time of making out this certificate of ownership the duplicate on page 2 is also filled in so that it will correspond to the original certificate of ownership.

The portions 5 and 6 of the page are identical, with the exception, of bearing serial numbers or being consecutively numbered, each portion having a title Bill of sale and. including suflicient indicia in order that all right, title and interest in the automobile identified by the certificate of ownership may be transferred to another party, the owner of the automobile being designated the vendor, and the buyer as the vendee.

The bill of sale is'of legal form, including a jurat and there are sufficient blank spaces for all of the data necessary to complete the sale of the automobile.

As there may be numerous transfers of the'ownership of the automobile, a number of the pages in the book may be devoted tobills of sale, with all of the forms serially or consecutively numbered. The first )ages containing the bills of sale are also in uplicate, similar to the first page, so that copies of the bills of sale may be removed and recorded. For this and other purposes the back of the first page, as well as other pages, containing bills of sale are provided with spaces of column formatioih, as shown in Fig. 2, which represents the reverse face of the first page of the book, as shown in Fig. 1. There is a column 9 for the date of execution in connection with the bill of sale; a column 10 to indicate the kind of instrument, mortgage or contract used in the transaction; a column 11 for the names of mortgagee or vendor; a column 12 for the amount involved; a column 14 for data as to where the instrument is recorded, and a column 14 for data relative to the discharge of the mortgage recorded. The columns tain a rsum of the main facts of the sale.

Other pages in the book, one of whic-h is shown in Fig. 3, are devoted to blank forms adapted to be filled in by a recording officer,

detached by the weakened or perforated tearing line, indicated 15, and. pasted or otherwise permanently attached to each original bill of sale. For this purpose, there is a space 16 at the left hand side of each bill of sale entitled, Paste register certificate here and in order that the recording memorandum may be readily attached to each original bill of sale, each memorandum has a gummed or adhesive coated surface 17.

The memoranda for the bill of sale record is preferably in two columns with the memoranda of one column upside down compared to the other and this permits of the side edges of the page being gummed or adhesively coated on the reverse side of the page, so that gummed or adhesively coated portions of each memorandum will be at the left hand side thereof, and permits of the record being attached to a bill of sale without interfering with the reading of any matter on the bill of sale. Each bill of sale record includes sufficient space for the State, county, city or town in which the bill of sale is presented for record; the day of the month, year and time of the day of recording, and the liber and page of record, together with suitable spaces for the recorders name and ofiicial title.

' The book may or may not include an application form which has been shown in Fig. 4, and if within the book a whole page is devoted to the same and numerous questions are asked so that there will be a historical record of the automobile on the application form and from which a certificate of ownership or bill of sale may be prepared. The application form includes spaces for answers to various questions, and there is a notarys jurat so that the applicant may swear to or aflirm all the statements in the application.

lVith abstract books embodying the data, indicia and structural features set forth above, it is possible for a company, corporation or individual to furnish the abstract books to manufacturers so that an abstract of title may accompany each car sold by the manufacturer direct to the user. Then again, it is possible for the company issuing the abstract book to furnish the same to automobile distributors or upon receipt of an application blank, duly executed, to furnish the owner of an automobile with an abstract of title. Assuming that the company which issues the abstract book maintains a complete record of the production of each automobile company, that is, motor numbers, types of bodies, car numbers etc., it is possible for the company to verify any certificate (if-ownership when the owner of the ,car presents a duplicate or copy of the certificate of'ownership and this verification is only necessary when there is a dispute as to ownership or a bill of sale in connection with the automobile.

Assuming that the owner of an automobile desires to sell his car and that a buyer has been found for the same, then the first bill of sale within the automobile owners abstract book is properly made out in the original and also in the duplicate and these bills of sale are acknowledged before a notary public or justice of the peace having an oflicial seal, the duplicate bill of sale is detached and together with a copy of the'original certificate of ownership which may also be removed from the book, are forwarded to the 1 abstract company for verification and reference. onlyretains the original copy of the bill of sale, but has the original certificate of ownership, and both of these records maybe I bill-of sale may be attached to the original bill of salei; The buyer of the automobile therefore'hasf-an ironclad record of the bill of sale, and should he desire to dispose of the automobile, this procedure is carried through to the purchaser and in each and every instance the abstract company receives a record of the transaction. "A urchaser may therefore call for a record 0 any a'r-' .ticular machine to ascertain if the tit-e is clear from the manufacturer to purchaser and should the record not be clear either with the owner of the car or with'the compan' then the purchaser knows that in all pro ability there has been a fraudulent transaction atv some time during the lifeof the car. However, with this abstract swstern universally adopted it would beimpos sible to dispose of a stolen car unless the caris accompanied by an-abstract of ownership and a complete record. Should a thief attemptto dispose of a stolen car, the intending purchaser can send arecord of the} carto the abstract company, who will advise the purchaser regarding the car and in this manner the company be informed of cars on which numbers, etc., may have been changed. Therefore it is possible to detect any fraudulent ractice in connection with a car record. t is practically-impossible for a thief to disfigure a car, alter and changetheoriginal car numbers and by so doing dispose of the stolen automobile. A forged abstract can also be detected, and

The buyer of the automobile'not' throughout the system it is possible for State license and police bureaus to check a car that may be impounded or discovered without an owner.

From the above description, when taken in connection with the disclosure of the drawings, it will be seen that the abstract, while issued by and guaranteed by an issuing agency-the issuin companyis itself in the form of the actual and original transfer mediuhas-the original bills of sale-sud cessive transfers being found on successive blanks of the abstract. These transfer records are not produced by the issuing agency, but by the parties to the transfer, the guarantee of the issuing agency being provided by the deposit with the agency of a duplicate of the particular transfer when such transfer is made, the abstract itself being the medium through which the transfer is made.

This system is made possible by the use of the blanks shown in the drawings and the particular arrangement of the blanks. For instance, the blanks 5 and 6 shown in F i 1, are blanks constituting bona fide bills of sale, when completed, thus having transfer characteristic, the blanks being du plicates with the exception of the identifymg indicia of the blanks as distinguished from the identifying indicia of the property being transferredthe identifying indicia providing a predetermined succession or sequence in .the use of the blanks for transfer purposes. Hence, these blanks provide the complete transfer record when filled in or completed, and remain a permanent portion of the abstract.

The fpage indicated as 2 is an exact dupli-' cate 0 page 1 with respect to the indicia thereof and the arrangement of the blanks, the identifying indicia corresponding to that of the corresponding blanks of page 1, the blanks of corresponding indicia being positioned side by side, weakened line 3 separating the originals from the du licates; and whereas the blanks; of the origina ls. are permanently connected, those of the duplicates are connected by the weak- 'ened lines between successive blanks.

When, therefore, blank 4:, which constitutes the original evidence of ownership of the property, and its complemental du plicate, are completely filled out, and the duplicate deposited with the issuing agency, the beginning of the abstract is had, the

lilo

original being in the possession of the owner of the property, and the duplicate in the hands of the agency which, through its agent, has given its certificate of ownership and therefore its guarantee.

When the first transfer. is made, blank 5 is completed, as is its complemental duplicate; the latter is detached and deposited with the issuing agency, remaining a perrelative to the property 40 his name.

manent record of the agency, while the original remains in the hands of the purchaser. Should the duplicates npt be deosited any inquiry ma e -o t e agency p will show the last duplicate record made, and since this would not include that of the transfer, the proposed purchaser would be placed on his guard. If the duplicate still remained attached, the

reason for the report of the agency would be apparent; if unattached, warning would be given to the purchaser through the report made. And if a second transfer be indi- ,cated, by both original blanks 5 and 6 being filled out, inquiry by the proposed purchaser would demonstrate any flaw in the records, since the absence of the regular sequence of duplicates, would indicate possible fraud, as would the receipt, for instance of the duplicateof the transfer of blank 6 by the issuing agency when the records of the agency failed to disclose the duplicate of blank 5, in which case the agency would serve notice on the purchaser of the flaw in the title.

And to the purchaser, the absence of the duplicate corresponding to that of the original by which he receives his title, would provide indication of possible fraud, the rela-.

tive positions of the duplicates to the originals, and the complemental identifying indicia, providing a check in this respect.

And in the carrying forward-of the various transactions, it will be understood that one of the two parties to each transaction is vitally interested in having the record of clear title cannot be passed until his lien is satisfied. And in this the blanks shown in Fig. 2 areof importance. These blanks are individual to the blanks shown in Fig. 1. and

each is designed to carry the record of the liens, etc., provided during the period when the property'is in the possession of the person whosename is found as the owner on the corresponding blank of Fig. 1. And as.

each lien or transaction is had, the party 66 vitally interested, informs the agency of the character of the transaction, the agency then providing the proper record on the corresponding duplicate which is in its possession, this same action being taken when the 60 lien is satisfied, the owner of the property then being the party interested.

It is because of the fact that the original blanks of the abstract are the actual and though the original abstract may never be deposited until the final disposition of the property calls for the return of the-original to the agency. And the safeguards provided by the arrangement of the original and duplicate blanks aid in this, in that they produce a check both to the agency and the person vitally interested.

My invention is not necessarily limited to the book form, as the first page and its adjoining duplicate'may answer the purpose in numerous instances, andfor this reason I do not care to confine my invention other than limited by the appended claims.

lVhat I claim is 2-- 1. A motor vehicle title disclosing record consisting of a book having a'plurality of sets of leaves, one leaf of each set being permanently secured in the book and the other or others being detachably secured therein, each leaf of each set having like identifying data comprising a dating space and identical and appropriately designated spaces for indicating the kind of motor vehicle, the number thereofand other identifying data relating to the vehicle, each sheet of each set also having identical and appropriatelydesignated spaces for the signature of the seller, purchaser, witnesses to said signatures and notary public; the book with its permanently attached and properly inscribed leaves constituting a complete record of title to the vehicle and being transferable therewith, and the said detachable leaf or leaves bearing inscriptions identical with those of the book adapted to be separated from the latter. and filed in appropriate places.

2. A record as in claim 1 characterized in that the book also carries a certificate of ownership having identifying data of the car, said certificate being positioned to form the initial entry in the chain of title disclosed by the record.

3. A record as in claim 1 characterized in that the several leaves have spaces to receive record data of lien characteristic.

In testimony whereof I attix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CECIL L. SNYDER. 

